I need your help. I am about to start a project which will require me to cut a quantity of 100 (3/32”) strips from a 2.75” thick piece of hard maple. The idea is to glue the strips up into a bent lamination. The length of the strips will be approximately 80” long. Looking for advice as for how to go about cutting these strips. I have a 3hp unisaw and a 14” bandsaw. I have a lot of time with the table saw, but the bandsaw is new to me…so not sure about trying to resaw the strips. I also have a jointer and planer to prep the stock.

The table saw seems to be the logical answer to this…it is simple to cut this strips and the depth of cut is sufficient to slice through the stock. Speed is also on the side of the table saw. Cons for the table saw are that for every 3/32 I will be chewing up an additional 0.125” worth of wood to accommodate the blade thickness.

The bandsaw would no doubt be much slower, but I wont waste as much lumber due to the thickness of the saw blade. Cons on the bandsaw however are that I have to run every strip through the planer and also joint the main stock for every pass.

All in all it seems the two methods are a wash in terms of waste, but the TS would get the nod due to speed and the ability to get repeatable results.

So two questions…am I thinking this through correctly and what would be a good ripping blade to do what I am after (rip thick stock that is ready to glue up in a bent lamination).

Thanks!

Joel

6 replies so far

I’d use a good thin kerf rip blade on the table saw. You’ll need to run the strips through the planer on both no matter which saw you use so that isn’t really a factor. In my experience even the best rip blade still doesn’t cut clean enough for a glue surface.

The BS inherently leaves a rougher cut that tends to need to be machined down prior to glue up, whereas with a decent rip blade the TS can go from tool to glue up with no further machining….usually by the time all is said and done, I don’t think the BS is actually going to save you any wood. Don’s suggestion for a good 3/32” TK ripper is a good one…Freud LU87, CMT 202.024.10, Infinity 010-124, etc.

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Dragon – The “GLRs” have a very tight side clearance to provide a nice polished edge, but as such, aren’t recommended for ripping over 1” due their tendency to burn in thicker stock. The Forrest WWII 30T might do a little better…most of the better 24T rippers will give a a glue ready edge in most situations but are a bit more marginal.

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